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RICHMOND, Virginia. (CBS19 NEWS) – A deer caught by a Culpeper County hunter tested positive for an incurable disease, the first case in Virginia outside the Shenandoah Valley.
The disease is called chronic debilitating disease, or CWD, which occurs in deer, elk and moose all over North America. It is a slow progressive neurological disease that will eventually result in the death of the infected animal.
According to the Department of Hunting and Inland Fisheries of Virginia, the male was legally harvested in November and a taxidermist, one of the 50 members of Virginia participating in a CWD follow-up program by collecting samples of deer that they received, submitted a sample at the end of January.
At the time of taking the deer, the hunter has not noticed any signs of the disease, which could include astonishment, abnormal posture, lowered head, drooling, confusion and marked weight loss.
Since this deer had been caught in an area more than 40 km distant from CWD cases, the DGIF conducted a thorough investigation to ensure that it had been taken from Culpeper County.
The public agency is now working with the cooperating partners and members of the CWD response team to determine the appropriate measures.
These measures may include a regulatory change, improved monitoring of the MDC in Culpeper and surrounding counties, as well as other methods of assessing and managing the spread of the disease.
According to the DGIF, additional surveillance efforts will be launched this autumn and will mainly involve deer harvested by hunters.
During the last hunting season, taxidermists submitted more than 1,600 samples and the Culpeper case was the only one detected outside Frederick and Shenandoah counties where CWD has been confirmed for several years.
The DFIG also tested more than 1,550 deer from Frederick, Clarke, Warren and Shenandoah counties and found two cases of the disease in Shenandoah County and 26 in Frederick County.
A third case was discovered in Shenandoah County after one member of the public reported seeing an animal showing possible symptoms at the DGIF, and officials confirmed that the female had the MDC in April.
With regard to the Culpeper affair, the DGIF will respond to the community's questions and concerns regarding the disease and the planned management approach of the agency during a public hearing to be held at the end of the summer.
MDC was detected in 26 states and three Canadian provinces.
Since 2009, 68 deer have been tested positive for the disease in Virginia.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that there is currently no evidence that CWD can be transmitted naturally to humans, livestock or pets, but it is advisable for hunters to test all deer harvested in areas known to be positive and not to eat animal meat tested positive for the disease.
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